I
was in the country to write about China’s technological and industrial success
and the Australians who were involved in it. As part of the research I spoke to
some university academics in one of the country’s inland industrial cities.
This
involved an invitation to dinner during which there were many toasts and the
atmosphere became quite convivial. On the drive back to my hotel I asked how
much influence the Mao Zedong era still had over Chinese thought and policies.
To
my surprise one of my companions burst out: “I hate Chairman Mao; I despise him
for what he did to my father and my family."
It
was a conversation stopper, and the rest of the journey was completed in heavy
silence.
Only
later, as we were saying goodnight, did another of the academics take me aside
and ask that I did not report his colleague’s remarks. He explained that the
man’s father had suffered during the Mao-inspired Cultural Revolution of the
1960s.
A
history professor who had tried to teach his students something about the country’s
imperial past, he was accused by the Red Guards of ‘revisionism’ and forced to
parade through the streets to publically repent his ‘crime’. He was not allowed
to return to his work and died of a heart attack shortly after.
I
did not report this incident then and will continue to protect the identity of those
academics and their university, but I could not help thinking of the contrast
between the closed, fearful society that the Communist Party has created in China
and the robust, sometimes rumbustious scenes I have witnessed over the past few
weeks.
Terms
such as ‘madman’, ‘privileged prince’ and ‘terrorist’ have been slung at
candidates in this poll. One even declared he would like to take a knife and
cut up Opposition Leader Narendra Modi. It’s par for the course in Indian polls
– a five-yearly lifting of the lid on the national bubbling pot in which
everyone has a chance to slag off their opponents, or praise their heroes.
Of
course things do get out of hand, and there have been violence and some deaths,
but the toll is low compared to some of the bloody elections of the past, a
significant number of the casualties are among security personnel trying to
protect the poll from those elements who have no wish to see it succeed.
In
a few hours the result will be known, and if the predictions are correct the
country will have a change of government and Modi will be Prime Minister. It
has been a monumental task, but in the end it is the people of India who have
made the decision and that is how it should be.
Winston
Churchill once said that although democracy was a poor form of government, all
the others were so much worse. There are many powerful people in the world who
disagree with this; who see their citizens, not as partners in society, but as
pawns to be manipulated for a vision of the nation that is handed down by its
leaders. Who believe democracy is inefficient, corrupt and wasteful.
And
democracy can be all of these things; India is certainly not free from any of
them. But democracy is also flexible, open to new ideas, and inclusive of
talents. In this election it has allowed a man who used to sell tea to railway
passengers to rise to the cusp of political power.
So
let the free people of the world pause to applaud India today. Democracy is
alive and will prevail.
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